Dorothy Macardle (1889– 1958) is perhaps best known as the author of The Irish Republic, an account of the revolutionary period from an anti-Treaty perspective. A new biography of Macardle, written by BC graduate Leeann Lane, reveals a deeper portrait of a feminist, activist, and literary figure. For Dorothy Macardle (University College Dublin Press), Lane, who earned a PhD from Boston College, used source materials such as the journal Macardle kept while she was in jail to shine a light on her “personal and political evolution.” Lane is a lecturer at Dublin City University and an expert in modern Irish history with a specialization in 19th and 20th-century gender and women’s history. She also is the author of Rosamond Jacob: Third Person Singular. Since 2001, Lane has been the onsite coordinator for BC in Dublin, serving as the primary contact for BC students studying abroad at Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, and the National University of Ireland-Maynooth, and teaching a course on Modern Ireland.
Dorothy Macardle
Nurturing critical consciousness in schools
In their new book, Schooling for Critical Consciousness: Engaging Black and Latinx Youth in Analyzing, Navigating, and Challenging Racial Injustice (Harvard Education Press, 2020), authors Scott Seider, an associate professor in the BC Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and Daren Graves of Simmons University identify and share practices for educators to foster critical consciousness in their Black and Latinx students so they can both resist the negative effects of racial injustice and challenge its root causes. Seider and Graves conducted a four-year longitudinal study—with more than 300 hundred students of color—that examined how five urban high schools foster critical consciousness among their students. Schooling for Critical Consciousness provides an important contribution to the existing scholarship on critical consciousness and culturally responsive teaching and is a tool to help educators strengthen their capacity to support young people in learning to analyze, navigate, and challenge racial injustice. A former public school teacher, Seider also is the author of the award-winning book, Character Compass: How Powerful School Culture Can Point Students Toward Success.
Ask Peter Kreeft
BC Professor of Philosophy Peter Kreeft is a prolific author who has given thousands of lectures across the country. In his new book, he has gathered together the most interesting questions he has been asked at these events, paired with his answers. Ask Peter Kreeft (Sophia Institute Press, 2019) covers topics such as God, prayer, marriage, Catholicism, heaven, sin, morality, and books and music. Kreeft, a convert to Catholicism, has taught at BC for more than 50 years and has written more than 80 books. Read more from National Catholic Register.
A daughter’s journey to acceptance
A memoir by Boston College alumna Suzanne Maggio tells the story of facing difficult truths and finding an unexpected path to unconditional love following the death of her mother from Alzheimer’s disease. Maggio, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English, is a social worker and The Cardinal Club: A Daughter’s Journey to Acceptance (Adelaide Books, 2019) is her first book. According to Maggio, “When my mother developed Alzheimer’s disease in her early 60s, I longed to find a way to hold on to her, to keep her from disappearing. I began to write. However, what emerged was something I had not anticipated. My relationship with my mother had not been an easy one. Mother/Daughter relationships often aren’t. In my career as a family therapist, I had helped dozens of families heal their relationships, but I had not been able to heal my own. The Cardinal Club is my journey to do just that.” She was interviewed by her hometown newspaper about her book.
Debut short story collection
BC alumna Lynne Spigelmire Viti has published her first short story collection, titled Going Too Fast (Finishing Line Press, 2020). Viti presents interlocking stories of women coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s in Baltimore and New York, as they establish their identities in a turbulent world, and on women in middle age coping with wrenching breakups and divorce, death of parents, and loss of old friendships. Viti’s previous works include the poetry collections The Glamorganshire Bible and Baltimore Girls. Viti is a emerita lecturer in the Writing Program at Wellesley College. She earned both a PhD in English and a law degree from Boston College.
Biography of James Martin, S.J.
Thanks to his appearances on television with talk show host Stephen Colbert, his Twitter following of more than a quarter of a million people, and his bestselling books, James Martin, S.J., may be the most recognized Catholic priest in the United States. A newly published biography, James Martin, SJ: In the Company of Jesus (Liturgical Press, 2020), aims to shed light on the interior life of one of the most influential Catholics in contemporary society. The biography, written by Jon M. Sweeney, explores Fr. Martin’s early life, experiences as a corporate executive, call to religious life, ministry and spirituality, and his feelings about both the adoration and the criticism he receives from so many. Fr. Martin is a BC alumnus by virtue of his graduation from Weston Jesuit School of Theology, which joined with BC’s Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry to form BC’s School of Theology and Ministry. He is the author of several books, including The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, My Life with the Saints, Jesus: A Pilgrimage, and Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity. Publisher and editor-in-chief at Paraclete Press, Sweeney also is the author of The Complete Francis of Assisi, among other titles.
New from Mike Lupica
In his latest book for tweens and teens, Strike Zone (Philomel Books, 2019), Mike Lupica tells the story of 12-year-old baseball prodigy Nick Garcia, the dreams he has about playing professional ball and worries he has for his sick sister and undocumented parents. A Boston College alumnus, Lupica was a longtime columnist for the New York Daily News and is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame. He also is a bestselling author of novels for adults and young readers.
Goodness and mercy in Toni Morrison’s writings
International Studies Visiting Assistant Professor Mara Willard is one of the editors of a new book exploring the writings of Pulitzer Prize winner and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, who died earlier this year. Goodness and the Literary Imagination (University of Virginia Press, 2019) is a collection that includes Morrison’s 2012 Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard Divinity School, essays written by scholars on the religious dimension of Morrison’s fiction and literary criticism, and an interview with Morrison. Willard edited the volume along with Harvard University professors Davíd Carrasco and Stephanie Paulsell. Willard also contributed an essay to book titled “Morrison’s Pietàs as Participatory Loss and Love.” Publishers Weekly calls Goodness and the Literary Imagination “eloquent,” adding “This volume highlights Morrison’s invaluable contribution to American letters and suggests her influence will be felt for years to come.”
Book prize for Ismay
Trust Among Strangers: Friendly Societies in Modern Britain (Cambridge University Press) by Associate Professor of History Penelope Ismay, was named co-winner of the 2019 Stansky Book Prize presented by North American Conference on British Studies. The Stansky Book Prize is awarded annually for the best book published anywhere by a North American scholar on any aspect of British studies since 1800. Ismay’s book provides a rich understanding of theories of responsibility to others and the nature of mutual self-help as it was practiced in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The NACBS called Trust Among Strangers “deeply researched and engagingly written.” More from BC News.
Remembering and forgetting
Since arriving at BC, Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies Guy Beiner has seen his book, Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster (Oxford University Press, 2018), selected for three major awards in the field of history-related research: the American Historical Association George L. Mosse Prize for “an outstanding major work of extraordinary scholarly distinction, creativity, and originality” in the intellectual and cultural history of Europe since 1500; the Katharine Briggs Award for a distinguished contribution to folklore studies; and the National University of Ireland Irish Historical Research Prize, which recognizes the best new work of Irish historical research. In Forgetful Remembrance, Beiner uses the 1798 rebellion in Ireland’s Ulster province to illustrate the dynamics of social forgetting. More from BC News.
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